1. STD/TBS/Trade and Competitiveness Section Report on the outcome of the 3 rd meeting of the Steering Group on linking Business and Trade Statistics (BEST), 12-13 April 2010 at OECD Andreas Lindner Head, TACS, OECD Andreas.lindner@oecd.orgAgenda Item 6 a Agenda 3rd WPTGS meeting 4-6 October 2010, OECD

2. STD/TBS/Trade and Competitiveness Section Overview Data development updates ORBIS The way forward The handbook 2 3rd WPTGS meeting 4-6 October 2010, OECD

3. STD/TBS/Trade and Competitiveness Section Data development updates Eurostat, United States, Canada, Norway and Israel had sent updates according to the OECD questionnaire Canada –The importer and export database is considered a key area by policy makers and very successful (paying demand) –Trade Division is responsible for this in Statistics Canada –Re-organisation allowed re-design –Rolling updates, linked with US data –Large companies are traced over time through tracing of composing establishments –Survival rates: 1 million $ CAN during first 2-3 years considered success 3

4. STD/TBS/Trade and Competitiveness Section Data development updates - 2 United States –Profile created by Trade Division of Census Bureau through matching the export trade register to the business register –Profile Press release created by the Foreign Trade Division of the Census Bureau is supported by the US International Trade Administration (the latter shows considerable interest in this international database – see agenda item 6 (c) ) –Census recoded classifications according to OECD questionnaire and breakdowns –Prototype profile of US importing companies will be submitted to OECD later 4

5. STD/TBS/Trade and Competitiveness Section Data development updates - 3 Israel : –Central Bureau of Statistics, BoP and Foreign Trade compiles the data –Because of accession to OECD, Israel plans to move to the general trade system (UN recommendation) –As for Canada and the United States, export and import register by economic characteristics is considered very important by policy makers and economists –Planned developments include More matching of trade values with economic activity and partner country detail Number of enterprises by economic activity and number of partners Inclusion of trade in services 5

6. STD/TBS/Trade and Competitiveness Section Data development updates - 4 Eurostat: –Unit G5 - International Trade is compiler –This TEC exercise is now part of the European acquis statistics with a regulation in place since mid-2009, requiring members states to mandatorily compile TEC –Solid exercise, due to census approach, not sample approach –Intrastat: VAT data used, exemption threshold excludes majority of traders, but represents 3% only of trade value –Compilation guide under preparation –TEC is one cluster of MEETS 6

7. STD/TBS/Trade and Competitiveness Section Data development updates - 5 Norway: –SSB Norway is compiler –Oral update on developments –Exclusion of oil industry would allow better comparability –Confidentiality is a problem (small economy) –Need for secure data exchange mechanisms 7

8. STD/TBS/Trade and Competitiveness Section Data development updates - 6 OECD: –Presented the TEC data compilation and, in particular, the policy context (see WPTSG meeting documents 17 and 17 Annex) Policy and statistics can be mutual drivers (virtuous cycle) TEC opens up entirely new policy dimension (e.g. comparable data on international competitiveness of SMEs) Challenges remain: global business decisions (= goods and services), MNEs More work on statistical units needed, incl. explaining, and on delineation of international statistical units (example: CNIS, France) Include more systematically services trade (reference to WPTGS 2009 meeting with excellent country progress reports) Potential future policy needs include –Infrastructure demand for transportation –Impact of economic shocks at firm level –Import contents of exports at firm level –Characteristics of exporting firms and their role in GVCs –Policy design for integrative trade (trading of tasks) and role of company structures 8

9. STD/TBS/Trade and Competitiveness Section ORBIS OECD has bought this international private database for use by 7 OECD Directorates ORBIS presentation (despite obvious advantages for micro-analysis) revealed: –Bias in definition of statistical units –Structural bias –Different variables definitions –Poor data quality –Lack of consistency with official data ORBIS and TEC –No fit –US: Much higher export data, certainly due to the fact that ORBIS approximates total, while TECs starting point are exporting enterprises –Canada: as for US, ORBIS figures overstate Canadian exports by 40%(!) Nevertheless, benchmarking TEC with global databases is interesting exercise 9

10. STD/TBS/Trade and Competitiveness Section Way forward: The Steering group concluded: –Some Non-EU OECD countries expressed interest in joining and OECD will extend number of participating countries –Distinction to be made domestic market orientation international market orientation to get picture of total activities –Exchange rate fluctuations to be taken into consideration –Analysis needed on related questions, such as do we tax exports by import duties? 10

11. STD/TBS/Trade and Competitiveness Section Way forward (contd) : TEC Handbook (OECD-Eurostat): –Agreement that OECD should go ahead, in close co-operation with Eurostat –This handbook should provide the methodological framework and compilation guidance, as already done for the chapter 11 of the UN IMS Compilation manual which OECD drafted – A draft should be presented to the WPTGGS 2010 meeting 11

12. STD/TBS/Trade and Competitiveness Section Share TEC with other constituencies The OECD-Eurostat TEC database has been made known to many other groups/meetings/constituencies: –BSDG meetings at Eurostat –ISI meeting 2009 –IMTS 2010 Manual (Chapter 11) –Wiesbaden Group on BR (incl. the WG meeting November 2008 hosted by OECD) –International SME workshop Cairo (January 2008) –E-commerce workshop Dubai 2009 –Etc. etc. 12

13. STD/TBS/Trade and Competitiveness Section TEC Handbook Information for WPTGS Delegates: 2 weeks after this Steering Group meeting, it has been decided by STD management to transfer this activity, together with Globalisation, from the Trade and Globalisation Section to the Business Section, becoming Business and Globalisation Section. The Trade Section received Competitiveness in exchange. This change in responsibilities explains that work on the Handbook draft could not be started. 13

14. STD/TBS/Trade and Competitiveness Section Thank you for your attention! Questions? Comments? Andreas.lindner@oecd.org 14